~ Internet for the grand generations

Honey Ice Cream Cake

The title of this post could really be “How to Use the Internet When You are Too Stingy and Lazy to Throw It Out”. But, that is too long.

Eventually, you will get to my original recipe for Honey Ice Cream Cake that you also can use as a method for making your own original ice cream cakes.

This Saga Begins

As an aging multitasker, I think that I can still do many things and have everything come out well. Like—-following up on my emails, cleaning the desk and baking a cake for company!

I had found online an awesome recipe for honey bourbon cake. The recipe said to bake in the middle of the oven, so I changed the rack from a lower position. I noticed that soon I had to charge my iPad on which I was following the recipe thus I forget that in my oven things burned when place in the middle position.

Made the cake, popped it in the oven and returned to my office. After a while, I wondered what my neighbor is burning now.

“What to do when you burn the cake, slightly” I typed. Yes, I got a good answer. Cut it off and use the cake bottom.

But how to use it? I was panicking. The kitchen was getting too hot. (I also had forgotten to turn on the air conditioning.) I suddenly was craving ice cream –my hot-weather comfort food. Then, I remembered that a friend used to make ice cream cakes out of her leftover cakes.

Back to the Internet. “Honey Ice Cream Cake” NOTHING.

When searching on the Internet it is OK to start out specifically; however, you might have to simplify the search.

I had to be less specific just “Ice Cream Cake”. Now, I had too much information, nothing of which was what I had in mind.

However, I was able to piece together ways of making an ice cream cake and getting it out of the pan without it falling into pieces. Plus, some ideas of various ingredients and how to combine them without melting the ice cream.

The Recipe for Honey Ice Cream Cake

After putting all the information from the Internet together, I finally arrived at my recipe for Honey Ice Cream Cake or any other ice cream cake.

Obviously, this is not a picture of my Honey Ice Cream Cake. With my guests waiting and my excitement that it came out of the pan OK and onto my servicing dish, I forgot to take a picture.

Nonetheless, you can see here that an ice cream cake is made up of a bottom cake, the middle ice cream with something dangerously delicious mixed into it and a decorous topping—all waiting for your own creativity.

Method

The biggest problem seems to be getting the cake out of the pan in a presentable form with no bits of foil or paper on the bottom of the cake. That doesn’t taste good and is embarrassing to the cook. Here is what proved to be the best method that I found on the Internet.

Pan and Lining

1. Use a springform pan with a buckle on the side. Any size is fine.

2. Cover the bottom with strips of cling wrap or plastic wrap, whatever you call it. These strips must extend over the sides so that they can be used to cover the finished cake.

Note: The cling wrap should extend somewhat farther from the edges than shown in this picture.

Freeze Solidly at Each Step. You must plan to make this ice cream cake several days in advance.To avoid any disasters, I suggest that. after each step, you allow at least a full day of freezing in the coldest part of the freezer.

Ingredients

The Bottom.

Not a picture of my actually cake.

I used the remains of a Honey Bourbon Cake from epicurious.comClick on this link to get the recipe.

(After removing the burnt top and checking on the taste–many times.) I broke the remaining cake into large pieces and bushed them down solidly and evenly on the bottom of the prepared pan.

I did not have to add anything to this bottom segment as the cake already had a distinctive taste.

Put in the freezer for at least a day. Cover with the long pieces of cling wrap.

You can substitute any cake, even leftovers and store-bought. The flavor can be enhanced by adding something like fudge or butterscotch sauce or even slices of fresh fruit such as strawberries or peaches.

The Ice Cream.

I used a middle-priced vanilla ice cream, which I froze hard when getting it home.

I also bought smaller Snicker Candy Bars that I also froze hard. I then was able to chop them easily into small bits that I returned to the freezer to again harden.

Next step is combining the ice cream and Snickers.

Take the ice cream out of the freezer and put it into a chilled glass bowl. Using a silicone spatula, fold and stir the ice cream until it is slightly melted. Take the Snickers from the freezer and add to the ice creams a small amount at a time. But, to maintain a good texture, do not let the ice cream melt too much.

Save some of the chopped Snickers to put on top of the cake.

Combining ice cream layer onto the cake.

Remove the cake from the freezer and open up the cling wrap.

Quickly with the spatula evenly lift the ice cream mixture onto the cake and level.

Sprinkle the remaining Snickers on the cake and push gently and slightly into ice cream so that they will not fall off when you serve the cake.

Rewrap and cover the cake with another layer of cling wrap that seals down the sides. Return to the freezer.

Remember you can use any kind of ice cream and additions. You can make more than one layer. Just remember to freeze solidly each layer before adding a new one. Work rapidly so that they don’t melt.

To Plate and Serve.

Chill the service plate in the refrigerator until ready to plate the cake.

Take the cake from the freezer. Remove the buckle sides. Holding the cling wrapped solidly frozen cake lift from the pan and now place it on the plate. Gently remove the cling wrap.

The Topping

Because the flavours of the cake were already complex plus the Snickers, I chose to only drizzle a bit of plain honey around the top.

For other cakes you can go all out with hot fudge and butterscotch, cherries, miniature cookies—whatever your creative self can dream of.

The only problem is there will be no leftovers.

Great Recipe for Multitaskers

This is a great recipe for multitaskers because there are a lot of small steps with lots of time in between. Even if you forget something you can always improvise. Just be sure to allow enough time and not to forget and leave the frozen things out to accidently melt!

So Frugal Fran, this is how you can use the Internet to make something out of your baking mistakes.